Energizing Efficiency

By

Gerald Doucet

Updated March 22, 2007 12:01 a.m. ET

At the European Union's summit earlier this month, the bloc's leaders committed to an ambitious goal of slashing so-called greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 -- and upping the ante to 30% if the U.S. and the developing world join in. These targets won widespread praise from the press and environmental groups, but here's the cold, hard truth: Even if massive new investments were made starting today, emissions wouldn't actually start to fall until at least a decade after the 2020 deadline.